View full sizeROSS WILLIAM HAMILTON/THE OREGONIANNathan Etzel, of Iberdrola Renewables Inc., monitors operations Wednesday in the company's Portland control center, which handles 5,600 megawatts generated by wind farms, solar projects and other plants across the nation. The Spanish-owned company has struck a deal with city officials to keep its North American headquarters in Portland.

Most patrons of Peet's Coffee & Tea and Sur La Table in Portland's Pearl District have no clue that workers above them manage enough renewable electricity to power 1.5 million households.

The dispatchers in a secure, unmarked control room route energy nationwide for Iberdrola Renewables Inc., the country's second-largest provider of renewable power.

On Wednesday, Portland officials said they'd offered a $1,155,000 grant to keep Iberdrola's North American headquarters in the city for at least seven years. The Portland Development Commission's board is expected to approve the deal during a public meeting next Wednesday.

Officials offered the incentive even though Spanish-owned Iberdrola is struggling along with much of the rest of the clean-tech industry. The company laid off 25 Portland workers last week, leaving about 350 employees here out of a U.S. work force of about 850.

But Portland Mayor Sam Adams, who traveled to Spain a year ago to ask executives to keep their operation here, described the city's proposed contribution as an investment in an industry that provides high-skilled well-paid jobs.

"We are investing in being the clean-energy hub of North America," Adams said. "Portland is not a big global city but a small, smart, scrappy city that competes and wins."

With this move, Portland bets more chips on a green industry beset by regulatory uncertainty, transmission constraints, depressed demand and competition from cheap natural gas. But Adams and other officials aim to build Portland into a green counterpart to Houston, supporting companies such as SoloPower and Vestas American Wind Technology Inc.

"They're in a cyclical business, and we think they're going to grow again when the cycle heads up again," said Patrick Quinton, PDC executive director. "We were heartened by the president's declaration of support for this industry in his State of the Union address."

Documents to be presented to the PDC board peg Iberdrola's Portland payroll at about $72 million as of 2010. They say the company explored moving the headquarters to Austin, Houston, Denver or Philadelphia.

Under the deal, Iberdrola would agree to maintain its North American headquarters in Portland for at least seven years, and some presence for a total of 10. The company would have to try its best to maintain current employment levels in its leased 57,000 square feet in Portland's Brewery Blocks, recognizing that staffing might fluctuate along with market conditions.

If Iberdrola failed to meet its obligations, the company would have to pay the city damages on a declining scale over time, not to exceed $2.5 million.

In the company's 24-hour National Control Center overlooking Powell's City of Books, dispatchers face banks of computer screens that track thunderstorms and other conditions affecting solar arrays and about 50 wind farms across the nation. When lightning approaches, the dispatchers warn field workers off tall towers. When customers face overloads, they swiftly shut down turbines.

Managing more than 5,600 megawatts in the growing network can be stressful.

Generation Dispatcher Murl Yoder, a former U.S. Navy hovercraft pilot, sipped Rockstar Energy Cola on Wednesday afternoon while monitoring 26 mph winds at the Klondike II wind farm in Sherman County. Paul Rummell, who once manned a Minuteman III missile silo, worked nearby along with Eric Ort, a former oceanographic-vessel bridge operator.

Jan Johnson, an Iberdrola spokeswoman in Portland, said the company has brought a lot of jobs to the city since starting with 12 in 2001. It plans to bring more.

"The Portland staff is very happy to stay here," Johnson said. "We love being close to Powell's, and you can't throw a rock without hitting a good coffee shop."